The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), recently announced a new certification rule for unitary small equipment certification program air conditioners and heat pumps. Effective from July 15, 2009, coil-only ratings in the AHRI Directory of Certified Product Performance are now limited to coil-only ratings developed from system manufacturers’ highest sales volume tested combinations (HSVTC) and cannot be more than 6 percent greater than the HSVTC ratings.

According to the AHRI’s press release, these changes will remain in effect until the Unitary Small Equipment Section revises its operations manual for this program to address issues in the mix-match coil certification program.

This action was taken in response to a dramatic increase in recent months in product listings entered in the AHRI directory by participants in this certification program. This increase over a short period of time has challenged the ability of AHRI to keep pace with adequate verification testing under current program rules, and for that, AHRI is reassessing program rules in an effort to remedy this situation.

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